Any advice for ESL student try to improve her English

[habiba]

Hi i begin from two weeks two classes of ESL at taft community college. It was the only place who have night classes. Anyway i'm not very confident with my oral English. Do you have any suggestions on how to improve oral English. ?

And i want to ask how can an ESL score 20+ on Reading Comprehension on the DAT. I talked to Naoemi from UCLA about undergraduate college and she mentioned that the admission look at the RC especially for the ESL who're non native English speakers.

And my last question my reading level is consider for someone at 7th grade how can improve it and read without enjambment (taking pause btw every sentence or word)

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[wildzodiac]

Immerse yourself in your surroundings. Don't only talk in English when you can but try to think in English. Listen to American music, make American friends. Go out and converse. Make friends. People who fail to do this fail to gain a grip on the English language. Hell, I know someone who has lived in the United States for close to 20 years and barely speaks English. Why? Because he chooses to live and converse with fellow Spanish-speaking people.

It might be hard at first, but break out of that shell. You will be surprised at what can be accomplished in a reasonably short period of time.

 

[trangtn]

What helped me when I first came to America was to watch a LOT of television. I watched from childish stuff like cartoons and those nickelodeon shows then gradually started watching the news and such. It helps with conversational English and pronunciation if you hear it frequently and observing the situation that those conversations happen in.
As for the reading, my RC wasn't that good so I can't really give much advice on this xD. I would say start reading a lot of scientific articles as suggested by DAT bootcamp.

 

[toothshine]

What helped me when I first came to America was to watch a LOT of television.

Agreed; this is a good way to learn the language. I have friends who aren't native English speakers - but who speak fluent English and never once lived in an English-speaking country (Spain and Turkey, respectively) - learned mostly by watching TV shows in English. If you can find someone who wants to learn your native language, I'd suggest doing a language exchange maybe once or twice a week. Just go out for coffee and tea and practice speaking in each other's languages.

 

[youngy]

There is just no magic or right answer.
People who are usually good readers still can struggle because you are only given an hour for 3 passages with 50ish questions.

Best thing to do is try to read lots of articles from variety of discipline, but mainly focus on science.

Just read! Read and read.
I am a super slow reader and tried to read as many articles as i can. Yes it is a pain and it is super boring.

I didnt particularly prepare for rc section mostly because i had to focus on science, but luckily i had 2 interrsting passages and 1 ok passage on my test and that sort of got me focused.

So no matter what, dont let yoyr mind wander, keep focused and try to stay interested in what you are reading.


Good luck.

 

[jaa2031]

First of all, my native language is not English.
So, I give up on my Reading Comprehensive section and did not prepare for rc section at all!!!
But luckily two passages are highly related with scientific articles and one passage is a random non fiction passage.
Because of my major is biology, I read scientific articles and text books frequently which help on my rc test. I did not get 20+.
But I made 19, even though I did not have a time to finish last passage and last 5 questions.
If you read a lot of scientific articles and science text book, you will do fine on the test.
From my perspecitve, it is not so hard as SAT reading. If your reading level is about 7th grade level, you will do fine.
I think if I knew little bit more about the RC test. I would definitely do better on test.
For instance, my friend was only living in US for 5 years. He made a 4.00 GPA and 19 on dat.
He accepted to UCSF and many other schools
My friend does have an accent while he speak English. But, he shows a lot of confidnet about himself and passion on dental field. He got accepted to UCSF and other schools.
If you are not so confident about your English, it is good to read a lot of book and watch television to improve your English. Better advice? I think it is really limited to improve English in short period of time. You will get improve on your English as time pass. So, I would spend more time to get better grade and concentrate to get high score on other dat section.
Hope this help